and back to $34,000.

Bitcoin’s uptrend to $40,000 in the offing, but the price must rest above the 50 Simple Moving Average on the 4-hour chart. Moreover, the immediate support at $36,000 is required to hold as bulls shift focus to $40,000.

According to strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co, if Bitcoin does not recover to $40,000 soon, it would tumble further. Speculators and trend-following investors are likely to search for altcoins that are performing better, hence adding to the selling pressure.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Notably, Bitcoin may extend the bearish leg under $30,000 if recovery to $40,000 becomes an uphill battle. The selling pressure is likely to continue in the coming weeks, with $20,000 being the ultimate support.

Ethereum is on the verge of a significant breakout that may see it retest the recent yearly high at $1,350. The largest cryptocurrency has been on an upward roll after confirming support at $900 early last week.

The uptrend is likely to have been validated after the price reclaimed the 50 SMA on the 4-hour chart. Meanwhile, the ongoing bullish price action requires that Ether closes the day above the resistance at $1,250. Moreover, price action beyond $1,400 may see the bullish leg stretch to $1,400.

ETH/USD 4-hour chart

The ascending parallel channel’s middle boundary is likely to be tested. However, if a breakout at this level fails, ETH may begin another downtrend and perhaps revisiting support at the 50 SMA. Trading below the channel would extend the bearish action as selling activities surge. In this case, Ethereum could seek refuge at $1,100 and $1,000, respectively.

XRP explored price levels marginally under $0.27 after the recent rejection at the 50 SMA. Selling pressure under $0.3 also continued to rise while losing support at $0.29 saw the technical picture diminish even more.

At the time of writing, a recovery seems to be starting and may continue if Ripple holds above the 100 SMA. Besides, a spike to levels above $0.3 will be validated if XRP/USD closes the day above the 50 SMA.

For now, the least resistance path is upwards, as the Relative Strength Index confirms. The expected break past the midline will call for more buy orders, thus creating enough volume to sustain the rally.

XRP/USD 4-hour chart

Ripple is still not out of the woods yet, at least as long as XRP trades under the 50 SMA and the critical barrier at $0.3. The buyer congestion at the 100 SMA must also remain intact; otherwise, losses back to $0.27 and the primary support at $0.25 may return into the picture.

adoption by investment funds, traditional finance participants, family offices, and tech funds, and set new all-time highs in December, a figure that was over 100% higher than its previous value.

Now, there’s a new evangelist on the block, and it’s the former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. In an interview with Jay Martin, president of investment service Cambridge House, at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference on Sunday, Harper said that Bitcoin was fit to be counted along with other hard assets like gold.

"We've seen the US dollar trend down in recent months…unless the US becomes a catastrophe, it's hard to see what the alternative is to the USD as the world's major reserve currency. Other than gold, #bitcoin, a whole basket of things… pic.twitter.com/E5atb4qRDf

— Neil Jacobs (@NeilJacobs) January 18, 2021

However, this didn’t mean that the US dollar was losing its prominence anytime soon. “Other than gold, [and] Bitcoin…I think you’ll see the number of things that people use as reserves will expand, but the U.S. dollar will still be the bulk of it,” Harper stated, when asked about the current state of the global financial market and which assets could make it to “reserve” status.

“It’s hard to see what the alternative is to the U.S. dollar as the world’s major reserve currency,”  he noted.

Harper has likely seen all of Bitcoin, at least information wise. He was the Canadian prime minister from 2006 to 2015, witnessing the asset’s inception, growth, first bubble, and eventual recovery in his term.

His comments for Bitcoin as a reserve asset came in favor of the Chinese yuan or the European unified currency Euro, stating that the former was subject to high levels of administrative restrictions while the latter faced long-term uncertainty.

Meanwhile, Harper added that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) were an experiment that was “inevitable” but faced a difficult challenge in terms of governance, enforcement, and long-term viability.

“If you have a digital currency and the purpose of the central bank is to control inflation and create a stable currency and priceability, then digital currency is just kind of an evolution of the marketplace.”

Harper, however, added that if CBDCs were released as part of a series of “wild experiments to the role of central banking” it would worry him “a lot.”

— IMF (@IMFNews) January 17, 2021

Just last week, Miami mayor Francis Suarez announced that he was considering buying Bitcoin for the city’s treasure, becoming one of the first US politicians to speak positively about cryptocurrencies and the formal use of Bitcoin in a hard asset setting.

He said such a purchase could make the city of Miami one of the most crypto-forward and technologically advanced cities, adding that the hypothetical reserves could have already been “200 percent higher” had he taken the decision to invest earlier last year.

Suarez further stated that he was even looking into allowing citizens to pay taxes and fees to the city in Bitcoin, a move that would make it “the easiest place in the United States to do business if you’re doing it in cryptocurrencies.”

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez publicly said he is considering purchasing Bitcoin for the city’s treasury.

The official has spearheaded progressive technology regulation for the East coast city.

Believe it or not, a majority of 2017’s rally that took Bitcoin from $500 to $20,000 in 18 months’ time was catalyzed by retails investors — people like you or me.

Commitment to Transparency: The author of this article is invested and/or has an interest in one or more assets discussed in this post. CryptoSlate does not endorse any project or asset that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Please take that into consideration when evaluating the content within this article.

Disclaimer: Our writers' opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.

Today sees the Bitcoin bulls mounting a fightback following the weekend slide.

The price of Bitcoin is hovering under $37,000 after the correction from $40,000 in the past 72 hours.

A large narrative over the past few months is the introduction of institutional capital to the Bitcoin space.

further. As for the past 24-hours, Bitcoin peaked at $36,700 while the 24-hour low was found at $33,960.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is priced at $35,739. Bitcoin price saw a 1.97 percent downturn in the past 24 hours, while the market capitalization amounts to $653.247 billion and the trading volume amounts to $52.36 billion.

The market sentiment for the cryptocurrency is still majorly bullish. Out of the 28 technical indicators, 13 are giving out a buy signal with nine neutral and six sell indications. Eight of the 11 oscillators are neutral with two buy indications and one sell indication. 11 of the moving averages stand at buy whereas five are at sell with one neutral indication.

Analyst Vince Prince has identified various important structures in his Bitcoin price prediction and per the analyst, the upcoming Bitcoin price actions will prove to be crucial for its future trajectory. Prince states that Bitcoin is developing a reverse head & shoulder (H&S) formation and a major decision zone will clarify whether Bitcoin will break out towards the upside or down from the formation. The analyst furthers the exponential moving average EMA-30 – in red – is acting as strong resistance for Bitcoin and the next important EMA, the EMA-140, lies on the neckline of the H&S formation.

Prince furthers that if Bitcoin breaks out downwards at the decision zone, it will enter a C-wave extension zone where it can go as low as $25,100 before it finds stable support. On the flip side, an upwards break out will indicate the cryptocurrency moving towards $38,500, where it will encounter strong resistance. Prince suggests that patience must be practiced, and trades should be based on the right confirmation as a false bearish or bullish confirmation can result in huge losses.

Bitcoin’s all-time high at $41,000 at the beginning of the year led to various Wall Street giants investing in the king of cryptocurrencies. The rally was headed by MicroStrategy, which invested $425 million, amounting to up to 85 percent of its cash reserves. Others such as Square and Miler Ventures followed suit.

All seemed well as long as Bitcoin was performing well but the cryptocurrencies are unforgiving, especially the king. A plunge of 25 percent from the all-time high put Wall Street companies that had invested a huge sum in the cryptocurrency in a precarious position. It is a known fact that cryptocurrencies are high-risk and high-reward assets, despite what the Bitcoin price predictions may have in the store. What is, then, the viability of investing a company’s cash reserves in such an asset?

Although some investors remain undeterred as the cryptocurrency’s long-term potential is more than good as per various Bitcoin price predictions. But the dive has, nonetheless, raised questions. It is not only the infamous price volatility of the cryptocurrency but factors such as susceptibility to hacking, fraud, and the ever-present threat of tightened regulations that also need contemplation. Investing cash reserves in Bitcoin can be a smart strategy but at what cost?

a long-term move past the $640 mark. On the 18th of January, the BCH price moved above the $500 mark before a return to the $492 mark.

Bitcoin Cash stands at $497.57 at the time of writing. The highest price for the cryptocurrency in the past 24 hours was recorded at $509.52, while the price dropped to a low of $469.16 on the 18th of January. The BCH price suffered fluctuations between $472 and $492 before crossing the $500 mark.

15 technicals show a buy indication while nine are neutral and four are giving out a sell signal. Out of the 11 oscillators, we see two at the selling point, one at the buy position, and eight at the neutral indication. Out of the 17 moving averages, 14 favor a buy signal while one is neutral and two are at the sell indication.

Bitcoin Cash is testing the Bollinger bands midline and this is being tested on the 1D time frame. An increase can be observed in the expansion, which depicts an increase in price volatility. The cryptocurrency should see sideways movement on the short time frames for now.

Trading View analyst Master Shark’s Bitcoin Cash price predicts the breakout of a long triangle pattern. The analyst expects the price to move across the $637 mark.

The cryptocurrency moved above the triangle pattern in December 2020, with a retest of the broken trend line. The trade volume continuously increased since the Q3 of 2020. The Bitcoin Cash price prediction suggests a push towards the $637 level right after the price moves past this short accumulation zone above the broken trend line. The next targets for the cryptocurrency will lie at $666, $942, and then $1771 in the long-term. If it comes into play, this idea will result in a good payday for Bitcoin Cash hodlers.

Analyst Boss Mode Trader highlighted a breakout from the descending triangle pattern as well. The analyst expects the price to move above the $511 resistance, following a brief price correction and then a long run towards the $647 mark. The Bitcoin Cash price prediction puts the cryptocurrency in a big ascending channel, with a long-term target at the main channel’s top.

Analyst Hyper Boy has also come up with a triangle pattern on the BCH/USD charts. The analyst marked the breakout of the triangle formation in this Bitcoin Cash price prediction, and they expect a target price of $646 following the breakout in the long-term. Hyper Boy suggests traders continue hodling on the BCHUSD pair for 2021. The stop-loss for the trade setup is placed short of the $400 mark.

The Trading View analyst De GRAM believes that the BCH price will rise above the $560 level after bouncing off the bottom of an up-channel. The price currently rides the lower boundary of the ascending channel in this Bitcoin Cash price prediction.

Markets – A resident of the English city of Newport (Wales, UK), James Howells, who worked for a long time in one of the IT companies, claims that he threw an old hard drive where 7,500 bitcoins were stored in a landfill.

As Howells explains on the BBC, he mined bitcoins for four years, when cryptocurrencies were still in their infancy and cost very little. Howells threw away the hard drive between June and August 2013, believing he had already backed up the files he needed.

Then James Howells considered bitcoins to be useless coins, since the price of an asset in 2013 was worth about $74, and by the end of the year, the cost of the cryptocurrency had risen to $ 700 apiece. According to Howells himself, he threw out the hard drive between July and August 2013.

The failed crypto millionaire hopes for a miracle and asks the Newport authorities to help find the lost hard drive. To do this, he proposes to dig a certain part of the landfill and find the device.

“You need to dig a specific area of ​​the landfill based on the grid coordinate system and rebuild the hard drive, respecting all safety and environmental standards. The disk will then be provided to data recovery specialists who can rebuild the disk from scratch with new parts and try to recover the tiny piece of data that I need to access the bitcoins,” explained James Howells.

In return, the Englishman who has lost his bitcoins promises to distribute $ 70 million to the residents of the city and leave himself only 25% of the amount on the hard disk.

Howells offered to donate 25%, or £52.5 million ($71.7 million), to the city of Newport to distribute money to all local residents. That’s roughly £175 ($239) per person for the entire city (316,000 residents). Unfortunately, the Newport authorities declined the proposal and did not want to further discuss this issue.

“The Council has repeatedly told Mr Howells that excavation is not possible under our license permit and that the excavation itself would have a huge impact on the environment in the surrounding area. It will cost millions of pounds to excavate the landfill, store and handle the waste – with no guarantees that they will find the disc or it will still be in working order,” explained a spokeswoman for the Newport City Council.

It looks like Howells has no chance to get back the lost bitcoins. Note that at the time of this writing, the cost of BTC is $36,180 and the total cost of bitcoins that were lost along with the hard drive exceeds $264 million.

It is worth noting that Englishman James Howells is not alone in his misery. More recently, the former Ripple Labs employee Stefan Thomas had lost the keys to a Bitcoin wallet that holds 7,000 coins worth over $220 million. The password-protected, encrypted IronKey Flash is automatically locked after ten failed access attempts. Thomas has already used eight, he has only two attempts left, and if he does not remember the password, all data on the flash drive will be encrypted forever.

And in February 2020, a similar story with Howells happened to the Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins, who hid the private key code for a bitcoin wallet in an aluminum case for fishing rods. The owner of the house, which the criminal rented, took all his belongings to a landfill immediately after Collins’ arrest. In the trash heap was access to a wallet that stores over $50 million euros in bitcoins.

Related: Idax CEO Is Missing With Cold Wallet Keys

In 2017, the founder of the sports blogging platform Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, lost $50,000 of bitcoins after losing the key to the hardware wallet that held the coins.

Recently, the NewYork Times calculated that about 20% of all currently existing bitcoins are stored on wallets, access to which is lost forever, exceeds $140 billion.

Wallet Recovery Services, a firm that helps recover lost digital keys, said it receives 70 requests a day from users trying to access their digital wallets – three times the number it was a month ago.

Think we missed something? Let us know in the comment section below.

the IMF but it is needed to revive economies. Many people are interpreting her statement as very bullish for bitcoin.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has urged governments worldwide to spend as much as they can and then spend even more. She said on Friday at Russia’s annual Gaidar economic forum that policymakers worldwide should embrace more spending to help revive their economies. She was quoted by Reuters as saying:

In terms of policies for right now, very unusual for the IMF, starting in March I would go out and I would say: ‘please spend’. Spend as much as you can and then spend a little bit more.

“I continue to advocate for monetary policy accommodation and fiscal policies that protect the economy from collapse at a time when we are on purpose restricting both production and consumption,” she added. “IMF staff calculated that a coordinated G20 fiscal stimulus in green infrastructure, if it is done in a coordinated manner, would deliver two-thirds more in growth … than if each country acts on its own.” Georgieva also noted that in 2020, the IMF provided support to 83 countries.

Bitcoiners on social media view this news as ultra bullish for BTC. Many people interpret the IMF chief’s plea as “brrrr as much as you can.” Others commented: “Money printer goes brrrr” and “buy bitcoin.”

This is not the first time that the crypto community has discussed how massive government spending would boost the price of bitcoin. Early bitcoin investor Bruce Fenton previously described, “stimulus & increased government spending causes rising prices, bitcoin wins.” River Financial tweeted last week:

Many of our largest clients have made sizable allocations to bitcoin primarily because of the unsustainable government spending and quantitative easing from the Fed.

What do you think about the IMF chief’s statement? Let us know in the comments section below.

Use Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to play online casino games here.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

the adoption of Bitcoin denominated payment systems. A number of altcoins are rallying alongside Bitcoin, and making payments in cryptocurrencies may not be the preferred choice for many. Just as Nic Carter, Partner at Castle Island Ventures puts it in his talk with Frances Coppola, renowned economist, and author, “I always regret it when I buy stuff with Bitcoin”. With returns of nearly 27.6% YTD, Bitcoin payments may not pick up anytime soon. Denominating Bitcoin in the USD makes it a lucrative investment opportunity and limits its adoption to traders and investors looking at it as a wealth-generating high-risk, high-ROI asset. This limitation is sure to hinder the adoption of Bitcoin denominated payments. 

The volatility and network momentum that is critical to Bitcoin’s adoption is a double-edged sword. The same volatility that is increasing the price, is making it less lucrative for traders and individuals to part with their Bitcoin. Through active involvement and buying from institutions, the bull run may receive boosts from time to time, however, the impact may end there. With regard to Bitcoin’s growth, this may not be the ‘Eureka’ moment that maximalists and proponents have waited for. It is more likely that the current price rally is an incentive to trade and adopt, however, adoption may be the game-changer. 

Currently, the number of transactions has exceeded the monthly volume since January 2017 based on data from Statista. 

The chart shows that the number of transactions in January 2021 has exceeded that of the past 3 years since January 2017. However, even the current transaction volume is nowhere close to the expected transaction volume. When mainstream adoption kicks in, transaction volume and price may no longer be significant metrics, as more critical metrics like transaction processing time, settlement time on exchanges, deposit and withdrawal time to and from wallets would be of greater significance. Until then, Bitcoin’s mainstream adoption may be a pipe dream. 

Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: 17 January

Cardano, Cosmos, BAT Price Analysis: 17 January

Ekta is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto and her specialization lies in spot markets. Currently pursuing her MBA, she is passionate about trading, fintech, and everything decentralized.

12 days since its ATH, how is Bitcoin doing?

Was Bitcoin’s rally overextended? If yes, what next

Will Bitcoin cross $100000 by August 2021?

Will Bitcoin see another trend reversal in 2021?

Are comparisons between Bitcoin and Gold absurd?

Bitcoin: Is another liquidity crunch in the works?

has been under development since last year. It will manage the new mining service the company wants to launch, according to the announcement.

The company says it will be integrating its existing business lines to “MiFi”, its miner-focused financial services, which includes risk management, investment, and lending offerings.

Armanda Fabiano, former director of mining at Fidelity Investment, will be in charge of the new mining operations.

Fabiano stated that the proprietary mining operation at Galaxy will enable the firm to “deeply understand and solve for the financial needs of miners.”

In the past three months, Galaxy’s shares have grown by almost 100%, as it’s now trading at $8.48.

The new Bitcoin mining service will be mining Bitcoin on a proprietary basis. It will also offer financial and expertise services to crypto miners, according to the announcement.

The press release detailing the features of the new mining project stated that Galaxy Digital Mining will be launching this year. It will merge with Galaxy’s already business lines to offer a more comprehensive service to miners and crypto users.

Fabiano will be leading a team of experts with experience in strategic advisory, investment banking, structured products, real asset financing, and non-traditional securitization.

After Galaxy Bitcoin has completely established its BTC operation, it will be hosting its machines and tools at a third-party datacenter in the U.S.  “Bitcoin mining is the foundation of the Bitcoin network,” Fabiano pointed out.

She added that the establishment of a mining service will help the company solve the financial issues miners are facing. Also, it will strengthen the Bitcoin network and the Bitcoin industry with the addition of a new mining service to the already existing ones in the industry.

Chris Ferraro, Co-President of Galaxy Digital, has commented on the development. He said the company has seen a massive opportunity in digital asset-backed financing, equipment financing, project financing.

Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Digital Mike Novogratz has always pointed out a positive outlook for the digital asset industry. Last year, he predicted an upward movement of Bitcoin, and it turned out he was right after all, although Bitcoin has not reached the $100,000 price mark he predicted.

In November, he also said Bitcoin’s price will contract a bit due to the massive influx of high net-worth individuals. Based on the current fundamentals in the Bitcoin market, that prediction is playing out in the market right now.

sector saw explosive growth as DeFi dominance rose rapidly from 0.9% to 4.6% in the summer. During the same period, the market cap multiplied 12 times to reach $19.6 billion.

Additionally, the DeFi market cap ended the year with a new all-time high at $20.4 billion. Based on the mindshare that the sector has managed to capture, DeFi has the potential to continue growing in the coming years.

Other highlights

Top 30 cryptocurrency market capitalization ended the year with an all-time high of $732 billion

One of the main reasons for this 308% growth is institutional entry into the market. Renowned investors including Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller have been endorsing cryptocurrencies while large public listed companies such as Microstrategy and Square have been purchasing Bitcoin as part of their corporate treasury. This has led to a boost in crypto market confidence.

The 2020-2021 Bitcoin bull run appears to mimic the 2016-2017 trajectory

The 2016-2017 cycle saw the Bitcoin price grow and peak at 4,527% returns. Meanwhile, in 2020-2021, Bitcoin has risen more than double in the first year against the last cycle (303% versus 130%).

However, the difference this time is that the cryptocurrency market may be able to sustain high valuation largely in part to an influx of institutional adoption, as well as a macro environment that encourages loose monetary policies. Additionally, there is higher accessibility to the market as companies such as PayPal and Revolut now allow retail investors to easily buy cryptocurrencies.

Exchanges’ trading volume grew by $403 billion in 2020

The top nine centralized and decentralized exchanges grew by $403 billion (+307%). While centralized exchanges (CEXs) do account for 93% of the year’s increase, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) still recorded a trading volume of $29 billion in December.

Although DEXs still have a long way to go before flipping the volume of CEXs, they still clocked an impressive 17,989% growth in 2020 alone and is 5.53% of that CEX’s trading volume.

Bitcoin perpetual swap hit $3.5 trillion in volume as Bitcoin reached a new all-time high

The top nine Bitcoin perpetual swap trading volume hit $3.5 trillion (+531%) as the price of Bitcoin reached a new all-time high. ​Huobi has emerged as the surprising contender to ​Binance’s dominance in the arena. Despite its recent launch in 2020, Huobi ended the year commanding 22% of market share.

About CoinGecko

CoinGecko is the world’s leading independent cryptocurrency aggregator. Since 2014, it has been the trusted source of information for millions of cryptocurrency investors. Its mission is to empower the cryptocurrency community with a 360-degree overview of the market. CoinGecko provides comprehensive information derived from thousands of data points such as price, trading volume, market capitalization, developer strength, community statistics and more. It currently tracks more than 6,000 tokens from more than 400 exchanges. For more information, visit ​us here.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Ievgenii Meyer/alberto clemares exposito

The price of Bitcoin has been seen fluctuating, struggling with high resistance levels.

The trajectory has been volatile between $38,000 to $40,000, and at this time, it is consolidating over $36000. BTC is in the bearish zone for trading on a short-term basis. The price of BTC holds a major support zone around 35,600. A strong contracting triangle was formed near $35,550.

Bitcoin price stands at $34838 at the time of writing, while the market capital right now is $655.017 billion. The trade volume is at 56.02 billion, while the king of cryptocurrency’s price is down by over 2.19 percent in the past 24-hours, but the Bitcoin price predictions seem hopeful.

During the past week, the price of BTC surged above the $38000 resistance. The price reached up to $40,000 resistance but could not surge any higher than that. It was recorded that there was a decline in price, and BTC was even trading below the level of $36000, and a new low price level was formed at $34,319.

It appears that the market sentiment for Bitcoin at the moment is bearish. Out of 28 indicators, 13 are giving out a buy signal, nine are neutral, and six are giving a sell signal. With 11 total oscillators, eight oscillators are neutral, two are at sell indication, and one stands at buy indication. There is only one neutral moving average indication, while 11 moving averages give off a buy indication and five a sell indication.

Analyst Ashan explains in his Bitcoin price prediction that consistent bullish behavior in the Bitcoin market movement is imminent. However, there is a strong resistance that is pushing the price towards a downtrend. The eminent head and shoulder pattern can push the price to unpredictable bullish movement. The surges towards bearish behaviors indicate that BTC will be in a major decision zone in the coming hours.

If the Bitcoin price manages to complete the reverse head and shoulder, there is a high possibility that the BTC price would hit the $3900 mark and consistent bearish behaviors will push the Bitcoin price to a persistent uptrend for a while.    

If the price of Bitcoin breaks below the level of $35000, the decelerating price patterns might continue. The main resistance is to be seen at the price level of 38,600. Showing off an interesting drift in the prices, Bitcoin seems to be aggregating with other currencies like Ethereum as they continue to climb the charts, while Bitcoin is settling its prices support at the $34000 mark.

The cryptocurrency market took a recent hit with $500 million in futures being liquidated. BTC has been struggling to set in a stable momentum since the high pressure of sales around the price of $40,000. As the consolidation phase persists, it is believed that the reverse H&S pattern is likely to take form keeping the market bullish for the next few days. The price fluctuations in the upcoming days will provide a better situation for further Bitcoin price predictions and the overall market trend.  

$30,000 by the end of the year. Since then, Bitcoin has risen to all-time highs above $38,000, making headlines daily amid dramatic fluctuations that have served to make investors wary.

Legendary economist Burton Malkiel has issued warnings over the cryptocurrency’s future. The author of the book “A Random Walk down Wall Street” has explained how Bitcoin's price surge has often accompanied a period of international tension.

According to Malkiel, Bitcoin holders “often reside in countries with weak rules of law” and “tenuous property rights”. He said that Bitcoin could be perceived favourably in North Korea as the country appears to be mining the cryptocurrency to fund its regime.

In the past, many economists have associated Bitcoin’s growth with an “index of money laundering.” However, Malkiel seems to claim that an introduction of legislation could burst and inflate the price of the leading cryptocurrency.

Malkiel said:

“Governments can be expected to crack down on the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for illegal transactions.”

He stated that US President Franklin D Roosevelt made it illegal for American citizens to hold gold in 1933. He mentioned: “All governments have rightly been very particular about their sole right to issue and control currencies.”

He said that Bitcoin mining could prove problematic as the process consumes huge amounts of electricity and that presents an opportunity and an argument for any government intending to crack down the cryptocurrency.

Malkiel said: “Since Bitcoin mining operations use considerable computer power and are energy-intensive, restrictions can be imposed on the computers that run the public distributed ledger central to the transactions network.” He further added:

“Governments can shut down the exchanges on which cryptocurrencies are traded.”

Calling for Bitcoin Regulation

Cryptocurrencies and in particular Bitcoin continue to attract lots of attention. Alarming cases of crypto scams and money laundering incidences have led to renewed and intensified calls for government authorities across the globe to begin regulating digital currencies. Recently, Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, has called for global regulation of Bitcoin, saying that in some cases the crypto has been used for money laundering activities and that any loopholes should be closed. She joined a number of regulators around the world demanding for the introduction of global rules for crypto assets.

Regulation is among the most vital factors affecting the price of Bitcoin. The crypto’s rise has been adversely affected every time a government has cracked the policy whip.

For instance, many observers attributed the recent crash in crypto markets to government action by China and South Korea.

have during the cryptocurrency’s earliest days of price discovery. However, there’s another method of investing called dollar-cost averaging or DCA, a scheme that’s considered far less risky and can still bring a cryptocurrency investor decent profits over the long term.

Now there are many people who were able to invest in bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and many other coins early, and this has produced significant gains for these risk-takers. But there is another method of investment that people have been leveraging for a very long time called dollar-cost averaging or DCA.

— Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentBitcoin) January 14, 2021

Essentially, the DCA method of purchasing involves buying a set sum of cryptocurrency at regularly scheduled intervals. This contrast is quite different than throwing all the funds down at once and waiting for profits. An example of DCA buying would be to purchase $10 in bitcoin per week, for a three year or longer period of time.

Buying in this manner is considered less of a strain on emotions and far less risky as well. The scheduled intervals of buying take place no matter what the cost of bitcoin (BTC) or the other cryptocurrency costs at that moment in time. Then if you aggregate the number of purchases per week, and standard price from the purchases over the three-year period, the investment cost will be measured in a mean average.

Moreover, depending on the crypto asset’s market performance a DCA investor can do extremely well for themselves in a much slower and less risky manner.

There’s also a website that can help you estimate the interval of purchases over time and the mean average over the course of the time period. The web portal dcabtc.com offers a calculator in order to figure out your DCA metrics over time, and if you’ve already been leveraging the DCA scheme you can check the profits of your current BTC investment.

Here’s a great example of DCA purchasing over time with an investment of $1 per week into BTC during the last nine years. Dcabtc.com explains that purchasing $1 of BTC since January 2012, every week for nine years starting nine years ago, would have turned $470 into $289,295 using today’s exchange rates. That’s a whopping 61,452% gain in value over the course of a nine-year span.

Now if the person started three years ago, and invested $10 per week into BTC every week for the last three years would have seen a 361% increase. That method of DCA purchasing would have made $1,570 turn into $7,249 during the three-year timeframe. Of course, the period when you start investing does make a difference for both DCA and just throwing down all the funds at once.

Timing is key and sometimes earlier doesn’t make a difference either, because of bitcoin’s price fluctuations. A good example of this is if someone invested one large sum into BTC on March 12, 2020, at a low of $3,800 per unit. Using today’s BTC exchange rate shows that investment would produce a whopping 821% over the course of time up until January 17, 2021.

Dollar-cost averaging is still far less stressful, because a person can invest without putting much emotional energy into playing the lows and highs like the aforementioned lump-sum investment. DCA investors don’t have to put a lot of time and effort into studying market charts, keeping an eye on breaking crypto-related news stories, and keeping tabs with industry heavyweights. The funds are simply invested without many time-consuming activities, and the investment can be calculated over extended periods of time without much worry.

The crypto investor who calculates with a DCA approach doesn’t care that the market is not predictable and the stress relieved from trying to time crypto markets is insurmountable. Throwing it all down at once and trading cryptocurrencies successfully takes time and research, things that some people just don’t have the time to apply.

A DCA investor understands that the price of bitcoin changes very often, and catching highs and lows can be difficult. But long term perspectives, logarithmic growth curves, and overall rising interest shows holding digital assets for a long period of time has so far, been an extremely profitable means of investing.

What do you think about dollar-cost averaging? Do you use this method of investment or do you day trade highs and lows? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Article source

differently.

Even though analysts have warned that people should not fall prey by selling their BTC holding while the whales are carting in more, people remain scared that $41,000 may the pinnacle for Bitcoin’s post halving bull run.

According to numerous experienced analysts, Bitcoin is bound to experience pull back while on a bull run cycle, hence the over 20% pullback was expected.

While there is still no strong signal that Bitcoin could still break the $41,000 all-time high resistance upward, the whales in the market seem to have a surprise for many.

Bitcoin whales continue to see this point as another good entry-level to make gains when Bitcoin eventually rallies up. Added to that, a report has it that the number of Bitcoin whales in the market is on the rise.

According to data from Glassnode, the big surprise is that while the number of Bitcoin whale continues to increase, Ethereum whales are decreasing in number.

The latest data confirms that the number of addresses with 1,000 BTC or more (circa $37+ million), has surged to 2,425. The figure shows that the number of Bitcoin whales hit a new all-time high. Further statistics shows that it is likely the number keeps increasing.

Previous ATH of 2,424 was observed earlier today

View metric:https://t.co/cjV0krRVgK pic.twitter.com/WBiQqXtcSH

— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) January 16, 2021

The record is somewhat encouraging for the market as the number of Bitcoin whale surged by 1 from its previous all-time high. Since Bitcoin whales are large investors of Bitcoin, they have tangible control over the market price of the cryptocurrency. They can easily crash the price of Bitcoin by dumping their assets on the market. Hence, the increase is a good sign for the market.

The increase in the number of Bitcoin whales, however, does not have a positive correlation with the price of the cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin price plummeted from around $41,000 to around $35,000, the number of whales moved from 2,370 to 2,425, thus showing a negative correlation.

Similarly, the trend in the number of Ethereum whales and price are also negatively correlated. Nevertheless, the reverse is the case here. As Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, manages with a fairly good price, staying above $12,000 up till the press time, there has been a decrease in a number of whales holding 1000 ETH ($1.2+ million) lately.

The number dropped from 7,007 to 6,985 within 24 hours. Even though the record is quite worrisome, speculations are rife that Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in the bullish cycle and the cryptocurrency is living up to it.

expand the firm’s activities after launching the facility in late 2020. According to the company’s website, the datacenter is getting electricity rates as low as $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

This week the Russian mining operation Bitcluster was featured in a Bloomberg video-report that highlights the company’s Norilsk bitcoin mine. The city of Norilsk is considered one of the world’s most northerly settlements and it is known for hosting the metal mining company MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. MMC Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest palladium producer and it also produces colossal amounts of nickel, copper, and platinum.

Now Bitcluster is bringing the polar region a new type of precious-asset mining by setting up shop mining cryptocurrency in Norilsk.

Bitcluster’s cofounder Vitaly Borschenko detailed in an interview that the Norilsk bitcoin mine is being contracted by international interests located all around the world. Despite the fact that the arctic region of Norilsk is extremely cold, the temperatures benefit the bitcoin mining operations according to Bitcluster as it helps the cooling aspect of the process.

Bitcluster’s webpage details that the company uses a special canopy in order to protect the facility from the cold corridor. “The warm air from the miners is mixed to prevent the snow from falling,” Bitcluster notes.

The Russian firm says it also leverages Antminer S19s and they constructed modular data centers in order to accommodate the ASIC devices. The Bloomberg video-report also shows that the company is getting very cheap electricity by mining in Norilsk.

According to the recent report, Electric is 25% cheaper than anywhere else in Russia, as Norilsk creates its own electricity. Natural gas and hydropower is the most dominant source of electricity in the Arctic Circle territory. Bitcluster’s site notes that the firm is obtaining electricity for as low as 2.75 rubles or $0.039 per kWh.

The report also indicates that the bitcoin mining operation is using an abandoned Norilsk Nickel plant that was closed in 2016. “The place is perfect for crypto mining: it’s cold and the area has [a] power supply that’s not linked to any of Russia’s power grids,” Borschenko detailed.

Bitcluster also claims, that next to the metal mining firm Norilsk Nickel, the bitcoin mining operation will be the Norilsk region’s second-largest power consumer. The company uses repurposed shipping containers to house the Antminers dedicating hashpower to the Bitcoin network. At current exchange rates, the network’s difficulty, and $0.039 per kWh, an Antminer S19 (110 Th/s) will produce $25 per day in bitcoin.

What do you think about the bitcoin mining operation in the Arctic Circle region of Norilsk? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Monday.

Analysts maintained that the correction was “ healthy and necessary ,” with the sharp sell-offs prompting the total crypto market cap to fall by more than $200 billion . 

ExoAlpha CIO David Lifchitz said the crash “would purge the excessive growth of the past 10 days, allowing Bitcoin to build a new base toward $50,000 and above.”

And indeed, Bitcoin refused to die. Just three days after the sudden downturn, BTC reached $40,000 on Coinbase once again, amid fresh evidence of new large buys on exchanges. Tyler Winklevoss had a clear message: “Don’t listen to the noise, stay focused.”

An email sent out by eToro suggests that the exchange is struggling to keep up with users who are clamoring to snap up Bitcoin.

In a message to customers, it warned that “unprecedented demand for crypto coupled with limited liquidity” meant limits on crypto buy orders may need to be enforced over the weekend.

It seems the company has been a victim of its own success. The email came a day after eToro marketing manager Brad Michelson revealed that 380,000 users had opened accounts in the first 11 days of January — with crypto trading volumes running 25 times higher than they were last year.

Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan — formerly a market analyst for eToro — told Cointelegraph that the warning notice was “a symptom of a potential upcoming liquidity crunch” and advised users against trying to move funds off the platform.

An eToro spokesperson told Cointelegraph: “Our experience of the 2017 crypto rally means that we understand the possible consequences of extreme volatility in crypto markets. We want to ensure that our clients fully understand the possible risks.”

There have been some big movers as the crypto market rally resumes and Polkadot’s DOT token is among them.

DOT has flipped Ripple’s XRP in terms of market capitalization following a massive gain of 29% over the past 24 hours. This makes it the new fourth-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $15.6 billion at the time of writing. Over the past week, DOT has surged by an impressive 83.26%.

Polkadot is a fully interoperable platform that allows other blockchains to connect to the network, and it has been described as an “Ethereum killer” because of how it can process thousands of transactions per second.

The most recent update, which may be driving momentum, was the launch of its Rococo parachain testnet, which went live in late December.

Other factors driving momentum include the issues with DeFi on Ethereum as demand for scaling intensifies.

Two gut-wrenching stories emerged this week — both with a similar theme.

One man told The New York Times that he has forgotten the password to a hard drive holding 7,002 BTC — a crypto haul that’s worth a jaw-dropping $262 million at the time of writing.

Stefan Thomas has just 10 guesses before the hard drive is encrypted forever… and so far, he has used eight of these attempts to no avail.

Thankfully, it isn’t all bad news. A student has claimed that they have found private keys that they accidentally Hodled as early as 2011, unlocking $4 million in the process.

The president of the European Central Bank has doubled down on calls for Bitcoin to be regulated globally.

Speaking at the Reuters Next conference, Christine Lagarde said: “[Bitcoin] is a highly speculative asset, which has conducted some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity.”

During the interview, Lagarde did not reportedly refer to any specific instances of money laundering involving Bitcoin but alluded to her awareness of criminal investigations into illegal activities connected with its use. 

She told reporters: “There has to be regulation. This has to be applied and agreed upon […] at a global level because if there is an escape that escape will be used.”

At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $37,271.25 , Ether at $1,255.16 and XRP at $0.28. The total market cap is at $1,038,320,969,138.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are HedgeTrade , Voyager Token and IOST. The top three altcoin losers of the week are Bitcoin SV , EOS and Verge.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis . 

“They said #Bitcoin died on Monday, but now it’s above 37k. Don’t listen to the noise, stay focused.”

Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini co-founder

“Did nocoiners really think #Bitcoin wouldn’t bounce back? This is the year of the Metal Bull. $100k is inevitable.”

Samson Mow, Blockstream CSO

“This whole idea of being your own bank — let me put it this way: Do you make your own shoes? The reason we have banks is that we don’t want to deal with all those things that banks do.”

Stefan Thomas, locked out of 7,002 BTC 

“The unprecedented demand for crypto, coupled with limited liquidity, presents challenges to our ability to support BUY orders over the weekend.”

“[Bitcoin] is a highly speculative asset, which has conducted some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity.”

Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank president

“I look at the asset value of Bitcoin versus the asset value of all things traded and Bitcoin is still a nothing burger — a giant nothing burger.”

Kevin O’Leary, businessman

Dan Morehead has maintained his bullish prediction for 2021, with the Pantera Capital CEO claiming that Bitcoin is on track to have surged 800% by August and hit $115,000.

The exec initially made this prediction in August 2020, when Bitcoin was trading at about $11,600. At the time of writing, it is now worth $37,000.

Setting out why Bitcoin has plenty of room for growth, he added: “Is Bitcoin overvalued? I would say no. […] Bitcoin has spent three years well below its long-term compound annual growth trend line, it’s still below it, and although Bitcoin has rallied a great deal over the last six months, I think it is fairly valued.”

A veteran financial advisor has called on the British government to ban crypto transactions.

Neil Liversidge started a petition urging local financial authorities to stop Bitcoin payments in the United Kingdom.

He argued that digital assets have no intrinsic value, adding they can have a “destabilizing influence on society, and are often used for criminal activity.”

In an interview with Professional Adviser, Liversidge urged retail investors to cash out immediately, adding: “If the UK government takes a lead by banning transactions on cryptos as my petition requests, that will set off a chain reaction, crashing cryptos overnight.”

Liversidge needs 10,000 signatures for a response from the government. At the time of writing, he’s got just 112.

Ledger users are receiving threatening emails in the wake of the hardware wallet manufacturer reporting that 20,000 more of its customers have been affected by another massive data breach.

One Reddit user said his father, who owns a Ledger wallet, received a message including his name, home address and phone number. The extortionist demanded 0.3 BTC or 10 ETH, worth roughly $12,000, or he would face physical violence.

The Redditor wrote: “I know that those scammers sending emails by hundreds are just trying their luck by creating fear, but when it comes to the safety of your family it’s another story.”

In another email, the scammer wrote: “Are you able to imagine all the possible consequences that can occur to you and your loved ones? I hope you do not ruin every little thing for yourself by making the wrong choice.”

Stephen Colbert, the charismatic host of CBS’ The Late Show, isn’t holding back his punches or his jokes when it comes to Bitcoin.

He referenced a recent Vice report that revealed how hackers had taken control of internet-connected chastity cages — devices worn by men to prevent them from engaging in any sort of sexual activity — and demanded Bitcoin to unlock them.

With a wry smile, he said: “Getting paid in Bitcoin? That’s the second stupidest idea I’ve heard.”

Colbert first covered Bitcoin on his show in April 2014 when Bitcoin was fluctuating between $50 and $300. Since then, BTC has risen by more than 40,000%.

Cassio Gusson argues Bitcoin promised to create a new normal in finance, but it turned out to be nothing but the old normal with a new face.

In this article by Benjamin Pirus, experts weigh in on the main events from 2020 that impacted Bitcoin’s price the most.

Bitcoin market volatility is scaring off new institutional investors, but meanwhile, old ones continue to buy up the BTC dips. Here’s Shiraz Jagati.